with the president on his way home, secretary of state john kerry remained in the region. we get more tonight from nbc's chief foreign affairs correspondent, andrea mitchell. >> reporter: john kerry, with jordan's king abdullah at his side, stayed behind, wasting no time trying to deliver on the president's promise of a fresh start for middle east diplomacy. shuttling from the king to an afternoon meeting in amman with palestinian president mahmoud abbas, then a quick trip to jerusalem for dinner with israel's prime minister benjamin netanyahu. before returning to amman. kerry is also dealing with an even more urgent crisis for both israel and jordan. the war next door in syria. u.s. and israeli intelligence say the assad regime is poised to use chemical weapons. >> once you let that situation spin out of control, it's very hard to -- to stop, and can have enormous spillover effects across the region. >> reporter: the cia is already training selected rebel groups to guard against a takeover by more radical elements once assad falls. the regime's weakness was demonstrated a